A Second Childhood
by T. Alana M
Summary: Summary: Unable to stand the suit any longer, Darth Vader uses illegal cloning technology to create a copy of himself with the aim of transferring his memories into the clone. But unforeseen circumstances forces him to put his plans into effect earlier than planned. Fortunately, the transfer was a success. Unfortunately, the new body is...a tad younger than expected.
1. The Clone

**To those who read my other story; yes, this is the interlude chapter.**

**Chapters are short!**

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Darth Vader hurried along the corridor. He threw his Force sense wide, determining that the facility was completely empty.

It wouldn't be for long.

He cursed, keying in the access code by the door. It was too soon. He wasn't ready yet.

But he was left with no other options.

Well, he probably could stay in this mobile junk heap of a life support suit, with artificial organs, four prosthetics, and a faulty respirator...

Yeah, not an option.

He nearly sprinted in as soon as the door opened, scrambling to the large tank that held his clone.

He felt a crushing sense of dismay. It was younger than he expected.

_A...a child? Barely ten years, I'd wager._

He wouldn't be able to do much with it, other than being able to play innocent rather convincingly.

But it was probably better than this suit.

There was suddenly a massive spike in the Force. He whirled around, tilting his helmet skywards. He had two hours, at best. That was barely enough time.

Vader swore and reached out to the clone's still-blank mind, wrapping his memories, his feelings, his _essence, _into the copy.

Once he was satisfied, he began shutting down his life support systems one by one.

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	2. Decisions

**Special thanks to Bella Skywalker, Cypher11, and Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay for your lovely reviews!  
**

**Chapters are short.**

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Cold. That was the first thing he thought.

The second thing was, _I have all four limbs! Yes!  
_

The third thing was that he had to get the kriff out of the tank and hide his armor before the rebels barged in.

He raised his fist, momentarily taken aback by how small it was, and broke the plexiglass with one Force-enhanced punch.

He realized that he had miscalculated a split second before the liquid burst through the opening, slamming him to the durasteel floor.

It hurt. But this pain was just a dull throb compared to the agony he had endured for more than a decade.

Wincing, he pushed himself off the floor. He scanned the area. It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for.

Limping on jelly legs, he headed for the black armor that contained his dying body. He located the last switch that would shut down his life support completely. Looking at the black mask, he observed it for a moment, noting the way it was sprawled on the ground, one mechanical arm outstretched.

It brought back memories of another place, one with fire and lava and that same hand grasping at a rocky crater.

_BetrayalpaindeathIHATEYOUtraitortraitorTRAITOR- -_

His hand hesitated over the switch.

Then he changed his mind, reached over, and flicked the life support on.

As the machines whirred to life, he thought about his decision. His body wouldn't wake, as his mind was technically in this clone. The body itself would be little more than a brain-dead vegetable.

But it could still be useful.

And selfish creature that he was, he couldn't add his own name to the list of victims he had killed.

Not just yet.

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	3. Crocodile tears

**Chapters are short.**

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_He couldn't access the Force._

_It wasn't permanent; his new body just needed more time to adjust. Probably. He hoped so._

_But that meant that he had to physically drag the black behemoth of his armor to hide it in one of the unoccupied rebel ships that had landed just outside the facility. Apparently they were scanning the area.  
_

_Grumbling, and quite sore, he barely managed to shove the last inch of leather in when he heard the footsteps._

Stang. _He made to dive under the ship. He failed._

_"Whoa, kid!" the surprised rebel exclaimed, plucking Vader from his hiding spot with ease, much to said quarry's displeasure. _

_"Unhand me at once!" This was beyond humiliating. If he wasn't so exhausted, he would_ throttle _the man. The rebel simply clucked his tongue and shifted the apparent child onto his hip._

_Like a kriffing toddler._

_Force or no Force, this man was going to __**die.**_

_"What are you doing here?"_

_...But this could work to his advantage.  
_

_He considered his situation. No Force, no weapons. Child body._

_And the adversary? Blaster, adult, six feet tall._

_Swallowing his pride, he willed tears into his eyes._

_"I-I didn't mean to!" he blubbered. Oh dear Force, he was going to** murder **all these rebels or he would never live this down. Ever__. "I got lost, mister. A-and I couldn't find my way back- -"_

_As expected, the rebel fell for it hook, line and sinker._

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	4. Guise

**Chapters are short. But please review, especially those who followed or favorited**

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_Years_ had passed.

After he had hidden his original body and tricked the rebels into believing that he was just a scared, lost child, (he had barely kept from gagging at the indignity of it all), he had caused a distraction by blowing up every rebel ship in the area from by rigging them from the inside.

It was a minor skirmish, but it made enough talk in the universe to drag attention away from his disappearance for a few weeks.

Just enough time for him to reprogram his black suit into a droid, with the designation code V4-D3R, which he had found somewhat humorous at the time.

It wasn't easy tricking Palpatine. But his old body came in handy after all, having a significant Force signature that the Emperor could sense. Perhaps the other man was suspicious of something, but so far, he had yet to confront Vader- -or rather, the droid- -and all was well.

He himself chose to bide his time, hiding out in his own quarters when he was on the ship, and keeping out of sight whenever he chose to venture out. An easy task as, to his utter disappointment, his nine-year-old clone body simply _refused_ to grow.

Oh well. At least it would be significantly amusing to watch the universe's reaction when a child was crowned the next Emperor.

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**Will be updated when reviews reach 25**


	5. Luke

**Chapters are _short_. But please review, especially those who followed or favorited**

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Things had been going smoothly. Then the Death Star was destroyed.

It was one of those rare occasions when he was controlling his iconic black suit from inside like an oversized toy. Luckily, he'd been on a TIE fighter instead of his quarters when the behemoth was blown up.

Normally, he wouldn't have given it a second thought and let the droid deal with Palpatine's displeasure, quite literally on autopilot. He had never liked the Death Star or Tarkin anyway.

But the pilot who had destroyed the damn near indestructible space ship had an obnoxiously bright Force signature that intrigued him far more than he was willing to admit.

He resolved to find out more about the pilot.

Once he had stopped pinwheeling aimlessly in space, that was.

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**Will be updated when reviews reach 3o**


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